The invention relates to a cushioning or padding body for insertion into shoes, such as for example an insole, a foot support, an inner shoe for ski boots, or the like.
Such cushioning or padding bodies may be manufactured from various materials. Examples are natural materials, such as cork, rubber or the like, as well as resiliently cushioning materials of plastic and in particular of foam.
For reasons of, for example, simplicity in manufacturing as well as for the individual adaptation of such cushioning or padding bodies to the corresponding anatomical shape of the wearer, it has already been attempted to manufacture the respective shaped parts from a thermoplastically deformable, resiliently cushioning foam material. However, problems arise with such a manufacture. As a rule, thermoplastically deformable materials having a relative density suitable for practical use are not sufficiently stable. During use of the shaped parts formed from the thermoplastically deformable material, the interior structure of the foam material collapses sooner or later due to constant stress, because of which the characteristic shape and cushioning properties of the body are lost. If, to increase stability, the relative density of the foam material is increased, the resiliently cushioning properties decrease to such an extent that the shaped part is no longer satisfactorily usable as a cushioning or padding body.
Although it is possible to manufacture cushioning and padding bodies with excellent resiliently cushioning properties from thermoplastically non-deformable plastic and foam materials, such as polyurethane foam, silicone rubber, or the like, it is, for example, impossible to subsequently change their shape by heating.